Some pictures from our fantastic hike at Mad River Glen!

During the first few weeks of school we were fortunate to have 2 monarch capterpillars in our classroom, which served as a springboard for our first science unit focused on the needs of living things. We watched them carefully as they grew and changed, making note of things we noticed and wondered, and thinking about what they would need to survive. Some of our observations included:

• the caterpillars were black, yellow, and white
• they eat milkweed
• they can crawl upside down
• they shed their skin
• eventually they hang in a "j" when they are ready to become chrysalises
• at first the chrysalises are green, then they darken

Earlier this week both butterflies emerged. We revisited the question of what they would need to survive after their change from caterpillar to butterfly, noting that while we could provide them with water and air, eventually it would be hard to supply them with nectar for food, and certainly the space we had for them as caterpillars was no longer adequate once they were butterflies. With good wishes for a safe trip we released them so they could begin their journey south. 

 During our first two weeks of school, much of our focus has been on developing a warm and caring classroom community in which all children feel safe and welcome, feelings that are essential for learning. 

For young children, a critiacal first step in this process is helping them develop an awareness of their own feelings and emotions. Our school uses a curriculum called Ruler, which emphasizes identifying emotions and developing strategies for managing feelings in a given situation. 

A key component of Ruler is the Mood Meter, which is a tool used to recognize and understand emotions. The Mood Meter is divided into four color quadrants based on pleasantness and energy level. 

• Red feelings: high energy and more unpleasant (angry, scared, anxious)
• Blue feelings: low energy and more unpleasant (sad, disappointed, tired)
• Green feelings: low energy and more pleasant (calm, happy, relaxed)
• Yellow feelings: high energy and more pleasant (excited, playful, enthusiastic)

We have spent a lot of time naming our own feelings and identifying the appropriate color, as well as naming the feelings of characters from picture books and sorting them into corresponding colors. We all feel a range of emotions on any given day, which is expected and okay, but pleasant feelings are optimum, and we have talked about strategies for managing unpleasant emotions and hopefully moving toward a more pleasant feeling. One of the simplest and most effective strategies is taking deep breaths. We have practiced a variety of these including belly breathing, balloon breathing, birthday cake breathing, snake breathing, bunny breathing, roller coaster or 5 finger breathing, and volcano breathing. They are all similar in that they encourage deep, slow breathing which is often a first step in feeling calm and pleasant.

Identifying feelings and managing emotions are lifelong skills that take lots and lots of practice and we will continue our work in this area throughout the year in class, during wellness with our guidance counselor Liz Crowley, and across school settings.

 

 We have had a fabulous first week of school! Getting the year under way takes an enormous amount of patience and perseverance on the part of students, with lots of spent listening and learning new routines. Everything from walking in line to using classroom tools needs to be taught, modeled, and practiced, ensuring future success and independence. Your children have done a fantastic job!

A few of the things we have done this week include:

• began our days with a morning meeting, which so far includes calm breathing and a greeting
• explored materials we will use during math
• practiced writing our own names, learned our classmates names, and compared names of several students at a time, looking for things that were the same and things that were different
• practiced walking safely in a line in the hall as well as on the sidewalk for when we walk back from ECO
• learned about our system for rewarding expected behaviors with cards that are collected school wide, eventually earning a whole school celebration
• watched 2 caterpillars turn into chrysalises
• met our 3rd and 4th grade reading buddies
• spent lots of time playing in the classroom and out on the playground

It was a very full week!

 During our last ECO session our focus was gratitude for the forest and our ECO experience. We spent some time in the classroom thinking about favorite ECO activities throughout the year and we wrote thank you notes to Victoria, our ECO leader.  We also spent time talking about the many aspects of the forest we are grateful for, including trees and animals. Children then had an opportunity to make notes or pictures of thanks to the forest on birch bark that we placed around our outdoor space. We are extremely fortunate to have such a great space to visit every week. Thank you to parents and the WES PTO for supporting this fantastic opportunity as well!